Yes, the motor is tuned for reliability. It is a copy of the CRF450X, but with slightly lower compression ratio (11:1) and a small CV type street carburetor, which is required for the 50 state certification. Both 450s, DS and dirt only, use the same motor. I am in the process of installing a CRF 40mm FCR carb and CRF450X slip on to gain some power. I also am sure that a CRF450R cam will fit, but I need to verify which version is needed. The nice thing about the bike is that virtually all Honda parts fit.

As far as maintennce on the front drive, it is not bad. The bike comes with a needle tip grease gun and tube of grease to use on the telescoping front drive shafts. This is the only thing required at short intervals and only takes seconds to perform. The manual on the front drive system is quite impressive, the one on the rest of the bike, not so much, but again, it is basically a CRF450X and you can down load a manual for that.